Island officials, residents work to shut down disruptive tree-chipping operation

A Hilton Head Island businessman’s mulching business may be grinding to a halt, much to the relief of his long-vexed neighbors.

After more than a year of trucking and grinding trees on the otherwise quiet Leg O’ Mutton Road, chipping away at the nerves of nearby residents and businesses, wholesale nursery and tree company ArborNature has been told to cease operations that violate its zoning, including the recycling of trees to mulch.

That’s the bulk of the work that owner Adam Congrove had been carrying out on his 2-acre tract since early last year, according to a May 13 letter from land management ordinance official Teri Lewis. And trucks continue to file in with more logs and leave with more mulch.

That operation creates an unbearable racket, opponents say.

Each drop of a tree into ArborNature’s blue chipper magnifies the machinery’s constant grinding and delivers a jolt to those who live and work nearby. “It’s horrendous,” said Ric Fisher, who owns three units in an office park next to ArborNature. “It shakes the whole earth. The noise is ghastly and it’s just a logging operation you’d expect to see in Seattle. Not Hilton Head.”

Congrove is also the owner of Ridgeland-based, landscaping waste-management company Tropical Trash, which had several trucks at ArborNature on Wednesday.

While his Hilton Head property also has some plants, pots and pavers — typical wares for a wholesale nursery, which his Leg O’ Mutton property is zoned for — those products were only added after the town issued Congrove a $250 citation in January, town attorney Brian Hulbert said.

“Really, the operation has only grown since then,” said Doug MacNielle, a lawyer representing property owners in the dispute, including the Indigo Run Community Owners Association and Fisher.

In August, the Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue Division also cited the business for the size of its debris piles, which once exceeded the town’s 25-foot height limit, according to fire marshal Joheida Fister. Since then, ArborNature has been in compliance, she said.

“At this point, we’re hopeful the town may be able to get that situation under control, but it may require legal action brought by the aggrieved property owners in the area,” MacNielle said.

Fisher was less optimistic.

“We have encouraging signs recently, but the thing that’s important to note is that’s happened before and he’s still grinding,” he said. “We’re not taking anything for granted right now. We’re all coordinated, we’re all on the same page and we’ll do whatever has to be done.”

Congrove, who did not return a message left at his business Wednesday, has two weeks to appeal the town’s latest decision.

His equipment was also quiet on Wednesday, the day after several residents complained about the noise at a town council meeting.

That brought a rare peace back to Leg O’ Mutton, which borders several Indigo Run culs-de-sac, as well as Indigo Pines, Victoria Square, non-industrial businesses and the planned, luxury townhouse community Magnolia Place. Several said the noise, smell and traffic from ArborNature’s mulching has disrupted them almost daily from morning to night, interrupting everything from neighborhood walks and porchside coffees to important business meetings.

The Indigo Run residents who spoke out at Tuesday’s council meeting also argued large trucks and excavators are not only a nuisance on Leg O’ Mutton but a danger when they make wide turns on and off of the narrow street.

“That’s a completely obnoxious use of that property,” Mayor David Bennett said after viewing video of the operation at the meeting.

And Fisher said he’s already facing the loss of at least one of his tenants, World Design Marketing, over the situation.

“They want to stay, but in commercial leases there are provisions for quiet enjoyment, and they could certainly make a case that it’s no quiet enjoyment at the moment, and it hasn’t been for the last year,” Fisher said. “They’re extremely upset.”

WDM President Wayne Johnson confirmed he’ll leave when his lease is up if the noise continues. He’s grown tired of the persistent, unsettling chipping rattling his windows and disrupting phone calls, meetings and even video production in his business’ studio.

“It starts early in the morning, and it’s going on when we leave,” he said. “When they chip, we’re out of business.”

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Island officials, residents work to shut down disruptive tree-chipping operation."